Digital batch 1

I made a bunch of new digital images over August and September, so here is the first batch. Above, its a duck-like abstraction set against a surrealistic background. Light sparkles create a sense of mystery. 

Periscope fowl, Digital, Sketchbook 800 x1000

A textural journey, I layered several patterns and contrasting colours to create this image. The black crystal shapes pop against a soft pastel background. 

Crystal night pastel, Digital, Sketchbook 800 x1000

A bland design was made lively with static-swirls and some highlights. Sometimes I try a lot of ideas on a composition before finding the right tool. The swirls are neon-stamp brush drawn in concentric circles. 

Static swirl clamp, Digital, Sketchbook 800 x1000

Reminiscent of a dust mite, or one of those small red insects that crawls on rocks, this image was created in black and white. Applying a red spatter gave a lady-bug like effect. I popped in some morsels of food at the top to give our bug something to eat. 

Mesh bug, Digital, Sketchbook 800 x1000

There were more layers than meets the eye here. Starting with pale swirls I kept overlapping more swirls with greater colour intensity. In digital you can completely 'draw-over' previous layers, although some tools allow for transparency. Its one of the things you cant really do with conventional paint. 

Swirls on swirls, Digital, Sketchbook 800 x1000 

Sun down, night downtown Montreal

I was downtown after work before the sun went down, and before the rain started at Ernest Cormier Esplanade park which is near the autoroute, Fort street, and across from the Canadian Architecture center. This scene is looking north at a gloomy sky, done wet-in-wet with a variety of purple, orange, and cyan tints. 

Gloomy sky downtown, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

Still in the park, same spot but looking east, I did a painting of a tree with traffic in the background. Painting in these conditions is tough because of the moisture and lack of sun, although it wasn't raining yet. 

Wide tree traffic, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

With construction on st Catherine I had a good place to stand with my bike and paint this scene on the corner of st Marc. Its Chef Lee noodles, although I changed the sign to my initials. Still added bienvenue (welcome) to appease the language-sign police, thanks Robert Bourassa. 

Cheff Lee evening, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

With night upon us, I headed over to the Dollarama area across from Cabot square, because there is bright light here from the store, and an overhang to block rain, which had picked up. A lot of people were talking to me, it must be the glasses making me seem more approachable! To do such paintings, I first apply the bright colours, then work through the washes and texturing. I actually painted this one and the next one simultaneously, which is a trick I learned for winter painting.  

Cabot square Dollarama bus, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

I established the background of the other painting, then this painting, then went back and forth as they dried. In fact, neither one dried properly on location, so I had to arrange them in my bike bag to dry without smudging. Its time to start brining my wood drying racks on locations, which are needed when moisture is high, or winter. The scene by the way is Cabot square, looking south towards one of the newer condo towers they built. 

watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

 

Harley street Autumn my shadow

Its that time of year when the sun goes down earlier and earlier, now its beginning to set shortly after work hours. When the sun gets low it casts a subtle amber glow, some refer to this time as the golden hour. In the view, I am standing on Harley and Elmhurst looking due south towards the empty lot. Shadows were low and geese were flying by honking loudly.

Sun down empty lot, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

Starting with my shadow and bike shadow in a rich purple mix (PB60 + PV55 + PR102) I applied successive washes and texturing until a garden emerged. The foreground was just tilled earth, in the background some last flowers were blooming in yellow-orange with olive-green foliage. Its a tricky effect to get right, if the initial wash is too moist it all blends together, if its too pale the shadow shape disappears. Wearing my new glasses helped a lot to place the brush strokes and properly see the moisture levels on the paper, brush and palette. 

My shadow community garden, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

 

Coffee park seeing autumn flowers train

Feeling like painting but somewhat tired, I stopped at Coffee park and made a few paintings. Cold and windy, I had to wear the good old gauntlet gloves by the end of the session. Here, I am looking due west with a view of pale violet flowers, black fence, walking path and trees. I've been using more violet tints (PV55) in the mixes lately and stopped adding bismuth vanadate yellow (PY184) which was popular in the summer.  The letters and numbers are pigment codes for the paints I use, pigment codes are common across brands even if the names of the paint vary.

Violet flowers black fence, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

Similar spot looking up towards the sun, I had my new glasses on while painting, at least for looking down at the painting. At distance the reading glasses make things look blurry. I acquired prescription glasses which are fantastic, and then bought a case of 6 reading glasses with my magnification from Amazon for less than $30, so about $5 a pair. That way, I can bring the cheap ones on my painting trips and not worry about loosing or dropping them. It remains to be seen how the glasses will hold up at -20℃, since I paint outdoors in the winter. 

Sun roof tops, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

Capturing the cars with a slight blurr created a kind of camera lens effect. Actually the paper just absorbed more than expected and I could not create sharp details in the foreground, but I like the effect any ways. It was so windy here, luckily I had an extra elastic to keep the paper on the cardboard backing. I guess we are getting to the bad-weather-painting time of the year. 

Commuter train cars going by, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

I forgot to put the glasses on for this one, even though they were dangling from my neck on a neck strap! When I finally put the glasses on, I was a little surprised at how rough it really was. So its 'clear' now that I needed glasses for painting, as well as reading. With the cheaper ones to bring on trips like this, even though they are not as good as the prescription ones, they bring me back to about 75% which is better than barely seeing things that are close! You live, you learn. 

Earthy autumn colours, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026 

Autumn canal bridge and industrial

With Autumn well underway, trees are turning various shades of yellow, orange and olive. The grass is also lightening to olive and brown tints. I did the water with a three-toned blue wash, let dry, then applied a variety of wavy lines. 

Autumn colours canal lock, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

Here is a view of the highway 10 overpass bridge span, with a shimmering canal in the foreground. Similar to the previous painting, I applied the washes first, then over-painted with wavy strokes. The foliage was done with heavy mixes of yellow ochre (PY43) and various other Autumn-like colours.

Bridge canal shimmer, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

Making my way to the Kruger paper factory, I did this painting of a cargo-train, and silos in the background. The forms were built up with successive layers, texturing, and detailing with brush-work. It was a mostly monochrome scene, just blue from the sky with greyish beige throughout. So I emphasized purple (PV55) in the shadow areas. 

Kruger train silos, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

Running out of many paints on my palette, I had to make due, and use lots of purple! It came out looking earthy and almost psychedelic. 

Autumn trees ess curve, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026  

All the views, Old Malt

Taking a tour around the Old Malt building slated for redevelopment, I did this one from its east side. An interesting roof line made for decent composition, and the patch work of graffiti added ambiance. The sky yesterday had a thin layer of textured clouds stretching across. 

Side horizontal old malt, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

At this time of year the sun stays low, which casts a slightly amber glow due to atmospheric effects. In this horizontal composition I also included the pink house, and a few other features including the bright sun orb. The pink house was part of the maltage, but some street artists painted it in its iconic colour, and added green shutters and fake flow pots. It also lights up at night from the inside, also here.  

Bright sun old malt, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

Looking up, you see a crumbling brick facade, a plethora of plants growing, and pigeons roosting high on top. It was a neat perspective. Locals and tourists were milling about, some photographing the structure, and a few intrepid explores wandering about inside the fence which is not allowed. As I painted, there was a distinct buzzing sound, like a large bee, then I spotted a small drone flying around the building high up. So I decided to investigate further. 

Looking up old malt, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

 

Leaving my bike on the street, taking the bike bag, ignoring the no trespassing signs and danger sings, I hopped over the 3 meter fence, easily scaled the side of the old malt building with my bare hands, its about 20 stories tall, and found my way to the apex, the pink house. It was a dangerous and foolish thing to do, and I could have gotten in trouble, or worse. But it may be the last chance to explore. Here is the view standing next to the pink house, looking down. And the drone buzzed past me, probably catching it on film. Darn, I suppose there is a YouTube video now of me standing up there with my bike, making a painting. Or, my bike was on the ground, that was the story.

Looking down old malt drone, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

 

Old Malt ruins

After hearing about the old Maltage ruins collapsing or, nearly collapsing, I headed down there to make some more paintings. The street, st Ambroise was fenced off all around the back part of the structure, and I could see the brick wall peeling off in places around the windows high up. A large graffiti adorned the wall, it actually said MONET. 

Old malt back graf, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

And a row of pylons, many cars were showing up and turning around because the road is blocked off. That overhead protector was there for years to protect pedestrians, now the sidewalk and road are blocked off. The plan is to turn the whole thing into a forested area with a pond for waterfowl. Just kidding, condos. 

Pylons old malt rear, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026

And a side view, looking at some loading device, it probably filled trucks as they drove through the opening. The new Maltage is downtown around the old Port area, its fully functional. I did a few more at this location and will post later. 

Old malt side cone, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, October 2026